Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
On the morning of June 17, 1994, the Los Angeles Times reported that one of OJ Simpson’s lawyers, Robert Shapiro, was called by the Los Angeles Police Department demanding that he surrender his client. The OJ Simpson car chase unfolded that day and went on to become one of the most well-known incidents in the world of crime. The football star-turned-actor reportedly led police on a two-hour-long chase with his white Ford Bronco.
OJ Simpson, on the day of the car chase, was asked to turn himself in after he was charged with killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, her friend. After he failed to surrender by noon, the police reportedly told Shapiro that Simpson would have to be announced as a fugitive. The police then went to Simpson’s San Fernando Valley home. However, Simpson had left the home by the time the police arrived.
His whereabouts remained unknown till late in the evening. After that, OJ Simpson was spotted at the 5 Freeway in Orange County near Lake Forest. He was in a white Ford Bronco with his friend and teammate Al Cowlings. Cowlings was driving and claimed that Simpson was holding a gun to his head from the back seat. He called authorities, which alerted them.
After that, several police vehicles began chasing OJ Simpson, leading to the infamous OJ Simpson car chase. The chase went on for 60 miles at low speed, and people on the expressway watched. Soon, police helicopters also joined. The car was headed to Simpson’s home in Brentwood, as per a report by People Magazine.
OJ Simpson car chase: How was he caught for Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman’s murders?
The OJ Simpson car chase ended when the car reached Simpson’s Brentwood mansion at 8 p.m. Authorities surrounded his house and found makeup adhesive, a fake mustache and goatee, his passport, and a gun. However, he then surrendered to authorities. Although he was then charged with the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, he was later acquitted after what came to be known as one of the most widely known trials.
However, OJ Simpson was found civilly liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. On the night of the killings, Simpson reportedly flew to Chicago. He was summoned back the next morning. Although the surrender was supposed to be pre-arranged, he attempted to escape authorities, ultimately getting him caught, The Washington Post reported.
Ronald Goldman reportedly worked at an Italian restaurant. He was a waiter and went to Nicole’s hometown to return a pair of sunglasses that her mother had forgotten, according to another report by People Magazine. Both of them were brutally stabbed, and their bodies were found on June 13, 1994.
OJ Simpson died on April 10, 2024, at the age of 76. He died of metastatic prostate cancer. He had reportedly been battling cancer since May 2023. Simpson wrote a book titled, “If I Did It.” It explored the hypothetical scenario of him having committed the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. The OJ Simpson car chase remains an important part of his story, considering that the trial that led to his acquittal was dubbed the “Trial of the Century.”
